The return of Donald Trump to the White House will mean greater pressure for the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and his wife and vice-dictator, Rosario Murilo, taking into account that the Republican president exercised a heavy hand against Nicaraguan tyranny during his previous term (2017-2021). when it applied sanctions even to the first lady herself and conditioned loans for the regime.
On January 20, 2025, Trump will be sworn in for the next four years as the 47th president of the United States, in his second and last presidential term, in accordance with the laws of that country that do not allow a citizen to exercise the top executive office more than twice and in this way the second non-consecutive stage of the Trump era will be inaugurated.
What has this president meant for the Ortega-Murillos?
If the position assumed by the Republican during his previous term is taken as a reference, the dictatorial regime in Managua will not have it easy at all; some analysts have even gone so far as to predict that the Ortega-Murillo family will not survive Trump’s second stage, which will continue to be a “nightmare” for tyrants.
Sanctions without regard
When the social protests broke out in April 2018 in Nicaragua, and the Ortega regime quelled them with blood and fire, causing at least 355 murders, according to data from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). Donald Trump governed the United States, and his reaction was immediate.
In November of that same year, the Republican president did not hesitate to sign Executive Order 13851, which ordered the “blocking of assets of certain people who contribute to the situation in Nicaragua” and immediately applied it to Vice-dictator Rosario Murillo and several of her followers. political operators involved in the repression, including his advisor on security issues, and one of the minds of the repressive wave Néstor Moncada Lau.
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But the Trump administration did not stand still, as it had the support of Congress which, joining forces between Democrats and Republicans, approved in December 2018, the Law known as the Nica Act, with which the United States sought to close the taps of the flow of financing. to the dictatorship.
These regulations direct the US Secretary of the Treasury and the representatives of that country in the international financial institutions of the World Bank Group to “use the voice, vote and influence of the United States to oppose the extension by the corporation international financing of any loan or technical assistance to the Government of Nicaragua or to any entity for a project in Nicaragua.
Once again, President Trump signed it unceremoniously and put it into effect to increase pressure on the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega. And in 2020, before handing over the presidency, he renewed it.
Furthermore, the Republican president maintained his policy that the situation in Nicaragua constitutes “an extraordinary and unusual threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” which is why during his term he maintained the declaration of a “national emergency” to counter that threat.
From 2018 until he took office in January 2021, the Trump administration applied sanctions to at least 50 senior officials and institutions of the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship involved in government corruption and especially in the repression against the people of Nicaragua.
Among those sanctioned are Rosario Murillo, three of her children, several state institutions and companies linked to the dictatorial family.
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Analyst and former political inmate Félix Maradiaga reported that he recently had contact with members of President-elect Trump’s work team and they assured him that they are interested in a consolidated and united opposition, which for the opposition leader is a sign that “New forms of pressure are being sought that are more effective against dictatorships in Latin America.”
In this new period, the Republican president will have strong tools to exert pressure on the dictatorships of the region, particularly against the Ortega-Murillo regime, such as the Global Magnitsky Law; the Single Act Law; the “Engel List” of corrupt and undemocratic actors; and executive order 13851.
Due to the known antecedents, Trump will not hesitate to apply them rigorously against Ortega. For some observers, an example of how tough Trump is coming against tyrants is the appointment as Secretary of State of the Cuban-born senator Marco Rubio, known for being particularly tough against totalitarian regimes in Latin America and who has said of Ortega that he is a “senile dictator” and Murillo “a crazy woman.”
If, as the saying goes, the day breaks at dawn, the Ortega dictatorship will have a difficult time with the republican administration that will be inaugurated on January 20. Ortega is keeping an unusual silence about Trump and has kept his usual insults against “the Yankee.”
